Board Thread:Series general discussion/@comment-5088097-20171202154949/@comment-11891028-20171208134718
I would personally love an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan. Sure, ninjas/samurai have a big presence already in games, but that doesn't mean that Ubisoft can't take the concept and make it into something original. I get why Ubi think it would be boring, but to be honest it's not like they haven't used well known eras in the past (eg American Revolution, French Revolution, Russian Revolution, Ancient Egypt etc) so from my perspective the whole 'boring' and 'over-used' argument is rather flawed, and it appears to be the only argument against a Japanese installment that I've can find.
To be honest, the amount of detail and exploration that Ubisoft add into the games, I don't think there are many titles that would compare to a Japanese Asssasin's Creed. Whilst Assassin in general may well be comparable to ninjas, I'm sure there's a fair amount of differences between the two in order to keep the main character new and fresh, such as new weapons (caltrops, kusari, sai, kunai, shuriken, kakute, claws etc). Perhaps a male ninja who can disguise and fight like a samurai, or a female ninja who can disguise as a geisha, or we could have an official templar turned assassin in the form of a samurai turned ninja. Not to mention, the supernatural speculation of ninjas could be tied in a piece of eden.
The way I see it, when Ubisoft say that they don't want a Japense installment in the franchise they're basically saying that they don't want to make a Ninja vs Samurai game because there's lots out there already. Then why not focus on a different aspect of Japense history? The hunt/persecution of Christians, the rise/fall of ninja, Japan during recent conflicts perhaps? Ninjas/Samurai don't have to be the main focus of the game (however my personal request is that they have some significant involvement in the game).
The pictures from that article look great, I can definitely picture a Japanese assassin now. Seeing as Ubi released an Egyptian installment after saying that they weren't going to, they don't really have any reason not to visit Japan in my opinion.